1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to a cooking appliance and method of cooking a food item in the cooking appliance, and more specifically to an oven including a predetermined setting for cooking a food item until an internal portion of the food item reaches a desired temperature for that food item to be considered fully cooked and suitable for human consumption.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, to cook food items such as turkeys, chickens, roasts of beef and the like, an oven is preheated to a predetermined temperature and the food item placed within the oven cavity once the predetermined temperature is reached. A timer is set to the recommended cook time and issues an audible signal when the cook time has expired to indicate that the food item has been fully cooked to the desired degree. The desired degree of cooking corresponds to the maximum internal temperature that the food reaches while being cooked. However, the condition of the food item before being placed in the oven cavity can vary on a case by case basis. Some food items are fully frozen throughout before being cooked, and thus require a longer cooking time to reach a desired degree than a food item that has been thawed before being cooked. If such a frozen food item is to be cooked to a “well-done” state, for example, it must be cooked longer than a thawed food item for its internal temperature to reach the temperature for the food item to be considered “well done”.
More recently, thermometers have been inserted into the food item to display the internal temperature of the food item. Such thermometers have a visual indicator that is triggered only when the internal temperature of the food item reaches a predetermined temperature. But such thermometers must be manually monitored by the cook regularly to avoid overshooting the internal temperature corresponding to the desired degree of cooking.